I understand why a couple of threads have been shut down concerning this topic... but that's mostly because the thread got off topic, I think, and then there was some name-calling and people saying not-very-nice things, so here I am making a new topic. Please be nice to each other. We're all presumably human, or at least have some form of sentience.

Now, on to the actual topic!

I understand that the religious views of some include ones that are not so kind toward GLBT people. I also understand why there are some who feel that GLBT people are seeking "special" rights based on a "lifestyle choice". I think it's a bit misguided, but I get it. And it's the right of those who hold those beliefs to keep to those beliefs.

However, I like ideas. Ideas can change over time when new information presents itself, whereas beliefs are impenatrable to all forms of logic and reason. As for myself, can you imagine the amount of cognitive dissonance I felt coming to terms with the fact that I was trans while still trying to maintain a very overt, outspoken Christian identity, with very strong beliefs like any good "Christian" should have? Strangely enough, I think it was my transition that opened my eyes to other ideas and other points of view. All of a sudden, there I was at the business end of the Apostle Paul's proverbial stick of beating (the one with Romans 1:18-32 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 etched into it). It was a real shift for me. I had to learn how to operate in a world with no arbitrary rules about what it meant to dress and act like a Christian rather than just being human. I had to learn how to live outside of a congregation, as at the time, I thought there were no congregations who would want me. It was a strange experience, being a Christian, but being shunned by Christian congregations for something that was truly completely outside of my control (suffice it to say that my transition wasn't facilitated by a "choice" to be a woman, but a need to either live my life authentically or die in a cesspool of insanity and misery).

So, in all these arguments about whether or not GLBT people should be accepted as non-second-class citizens in American society and the world at large, many Christians leaders seem to forget that being a GLBT person and being a Christian are not two mutually exclusive things. Furthermore, it is a perfect example of cherry-picking the Bible to suit their needs. It seems like they need a "them" for their "us" with which to scare people into pews with. They scare people with images of Sodom and Gomorrah while they ignore all the passages that explain the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was not mutually consensual relationships between people of the same sex, but inhospitality toward strangers and travellers. The Bible is littered with passages about uplifting the oppressed, feeding and clothing those in need, looking out for the widows and the orphaned... and yet, GLBT youth who are thrown out of their homes for trusting and loving their parents enough by coming out to them aren't reached out to by the Church. They are shunned and told that the only help they will recieve will come at the cost of so-called "reparative" therapy.

I know this is a long post, and I understand if the admins feel a need to shut it down or delete it (although I hope you don't! ^.^) I just felt like I needed to say a few things on the topic from a more... I guess I could consider mine a moderate perspective? I hope so. Hippe love and hair grease.

Edit: I fixed an out-of-place closing parenthesis.